[oceanperch]

I love horses from a far, I make them nervous, so I respect them.

They are sooo beautiful. I love watching them at the yearly rodeo.

I thought horse slaughter houses we a thing of the past.

This article made me ill.

May I ask what do they do with the product from horses? In the least sickening detail please.

[Judith Anne]

Dog food, is what I hear.

[Kenton]

May I ask what do they do with the product from horses? In the least sickening detail please.

Aside from dog food, I understand that a lot of horse meat is exported for consumption. A lot of it gets consumed by the French.

[Criminal Number 18F]

what do they do with the product from horses?

Animal feed, fertilizer.

The problem is, people love horses, but what do you do with an animal that isn't suited as a pet or trail horse for people? Not many people are willing to take on the non-trivial expense and duty of equine care for a beast the kicks, bites, and can't be ridden...

And then, there is the question, of what do you do with an animal that is overage or infirm? People will pay -- grudgingly, and just barely -- for elder care for their parents. They won't do it for their horses. The horse winds up at auction, and as the young lady points out in the article, one or more of the buyers is assessing these animals, not from the viewpoint of a horse lover, but as livestock. There it is.

A horse requires a lot of space and a lot of care, even if it's, well, "healthy as a horse."

Of course, no one who wants to maximize his profit from a horse he intends to slaughter will fail to feed and water the beast. That some people are cruel or incompetent at treating their animals is a separate issue than the fact that some animals are sent to slaughter. (I think gratuitous mistreatment of animals is far, far, worse than simply killing them for food or products... you might well disagree).

Here are some of the products that come from slaughtered horses:

• feed for farm animals

• adhesives (you probably have furniture in your house that was put together with glue that used to be a horse).

• leather. While the hide of a horse on a healthy horse is a fine thing, it also makes a strong and durable leather, that has advantages over cattle leather for some uses.

• meat. Some cultures are not hostile to horse meat. In Europe, especially France, it is available to people who can't afford beef. It is nutritious, as far as that goes; taste-wise, it isn't going to replace beef anytime soon (if you're a horse lover you might not want to try it). During the 70s when the Army was really in bad shape (thank you Jimmah Carter), it was sold in military commissaries because enlisted men with large families weren't paid enough to buy beef.

  In the USA a lot of horse meat goes to soup kitchens and other programs for the poor.

So those are the trade-offs. Pretty creepy if you love horses, but if a horse is going to die, either because it's unwell and suffering, or because no one wants it, then what becomes of the carcass? We've barely space to bury our human dead, going forward. We can't practically speaking bury large domestic animals. The choices are slaughter and recover max value, or incinerate the animal. The slaughter option lets man's dependable companion, the horse, make one last gift to the human race, its own body.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F